Born from Ice
by KnowledgeandImagination
Summary: Birthdays are days to celebrate how one came to be. But how did Hitsugaya Toushirou come to be? How was he born, if his first conscious memories are of ice and snow. perhaps the best way to find out is to look into his soul...Happy Birthday Toushirou!


**HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOUSHIROU! So, as promised, the beginning of my ten drabbles/stories. Hope you enjoy!**

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**Born From Ice**

Cold air silently crept across the land, brining with it cool moisture and whispers of a coming storm. The next day, the citizens of Soul Society awoke to find themselves engulfed in a dazzling world of soft, powdery white snow.

Winter had come.

Winter meant many different things to different people. It meant the human tradition of Christmas, which some Rukongai citizens and even shinigami liked to partake in. It meant the ending of one year, and the coming of the next, though for most shinigami, that had ceased to have meaning. For most of them, it meant hours huddling together by a kotatsu or a fire in a pot, swapping stories and chatting away while the bitter gale blew against the walls.

Yet for one person, it mean hours of sitting in the snow, in a removed place, and breathing in the cool, moist air, allowing the cold to envelope and caress him, allowing the snow to gently settle upon him, and letting himself become a part of the beautiful, powerful force that was winter.

And for one dragon, it meant the coming of the day in the year when he may be closest to his master, when they were both cloaked in the ice and snow that was their element, and the cold that was their birth.

It was December the 20th. Hitsugaya Toushirou stood, an unmoving figure within the snow. He stood in his own private gardens. It was a large area, empty with the winter season, save for a few frozen trees, snow covered flowerbeds, and the frozen koi pond.

He stood there, as if carved out of ice, while all the other shinigami huddled inside, chatting, doing paperwork, or, in the case of Matsumoto, planning a 'surprise' birthday party for the captain. But Hitsugaya Toushirou did not move, even as the snow that fell upon him gathered in his silver-white locks. The life that existed beyond these gardens was surreal. At this moment, it was only himself, the ice, and Hyourinmaru.

He allowed himself to sink, to fall gently through the veils of his mind to somewhere deep inside himself, to the core of his soul, and when he opened his eyes again, he no longer stood in his garden, but upon a vast plain of ice. He took a moment to admire the magnificent sight; Ice rolling in all directions, sometimes rising and rippling like frozen waves, sometimes curving slowly to form hills, or turning sharply to for cliffs. Sometimes, a small icy creek would cut through, pooling into small lakes that were mostly frozen over. The plain stretched on. In the distance, he could see majestic snow-capped mountains, vanishing into the horizon. At the moment, the sun shone, it's light breaking into iridescent rainbows upon the ice, creating a sparkling image.

A smile tugged at the boy's lips. Of all places, this was the one place that always felt like home. His inner world, his zanpakutou's world.

"Hyourinmaru."

The word escaped his lips like a small sigh of wind, barely audible, yet it was heard easily. Immediately, clouds rolled into the sky. Thunder rumbled, and the skies seemed to open, releasing a blizzard of snowflakes. The boy barely flinched, only waited calmly, untroubled by the cold.

And above the sound of the blizzard, another sound came. The beating of large wings against torrents of air, the sound of rolling muscles and scales of ice, of moisture slipping past a lithe, strong body. Toushirou raised his head just as the large serpentine dragon sliced through the clouds, nosing toward him with great velocity. The boy watched his descend calmly, vaguely remembering the shock and fear he'd harbored at seeing the dragon descend the first time. When the dragon landed upon the icy surface of the plain, the boy scarcely blinked. The smile that tugged at his lips widened slightly. The dragon chuckled, snorting the snow from his nostrils.

"Master, for what reason have you called me today?"

He'd known that Toushirou would come. He'd known from this morning that the boy would come, that he was troubled. The dragon knew precisely what was troubling the boy as well, and what he sought, for they shared this space, this world created by their merged soul. They were one, and so, the dragon knew exactly what the boy was feeling. Yet, he wanted to hear Toushirou speak his troubles, to say them aloud, for that was the first step to overcoming them.

Toushirou did not speak, only reached up, his fingers stretching toward the dragon. The dragon, understanding, lowered his head until his snout brushed the boy's hand. Toushirou stroked his snout gently, like a snowflake. However, the dragon could still feel the boy's worry in his touch.

"Tell me, young master, what troubles you so?" he prompted again.

Toushirou sighed again, his breath misting. He looked the dragon in the eyes. For all his knowledge of the ancient beast, the dragon was sometimes still able to stir fear or caution with his sharp, dangerous gaze. But at the moment, the gaze was uncharacteristically soft.

'Hyourinmaru… they say… they say that I am ice, that my heart and soul is ice. I was born in the winter… at least, I think I was, because my first memory is of winter. I just don't know anymore. What does it all mean? How did I get here? I don't remember a human life. All I remember is-"

"Ice. Ice, snow, coldness, moisture. Winter." Hyourinmaru knew these words, for Toushirou often thought about them. "Today is the day the other shinigami call your birthday, is it not?"

Toushirou nodded, staring off at the distant mountains. "Hinamori calls it a day of celebrating my birth. Yet… I don't even know how I was born, or where I came from. How am I supposed to celebrate it?"

Hyourinmaru made a rumbling sound within his chest. "Yes, birth is a strange thing, especially in a society of the dead. Yet not all who live here were born in the world of the living. Some were born right here."

Toushirou opened his mouth, but the dragon jerked his head for silence. "Yes, yet even those born here know where they came from. You are a rare one, a strange one."

He paused for a moment, and tiled his head upwards, tasting the winter air and feeling strength run through his lithe body. "Birth is a strange thing. I cannot tell you how it comes about. It is different for everyone. I do not know how you came to be, but I believe I know how I came to be."

He looked back at the boy, his crimson eyes meeting the boy's turquoise ones. Toushirou's eyes were wide with curiosity. Hyourinmaru continued. "I was born from the elements, born from the ice that you and I know so well, born from the cold that we are so familiar with, born from the moisture that we wield, born from the reishi that makes our bodies and born from the reiatsu and reiryoku that is our power.

'I did not have parents, nor did another being mold my body and soul. I was simply born, created by a harmony of the elements and energy. Born… created along with your soul, perhaps by your soul's birth. Perhaps I was born from power released by your birth. And since I am a part of you, and we share the same soul, it makes be wonder whether you came about in a similar way."

The boy looked skeptical and doubtful. "Born… simply from the elements? I… I don't know about that…"

"Where did the first soul come from?" Hyourinmaru challenged. "How was the first soul created? If there were no predecessors to bring about its birth, then another force must have done so. Souls are often created here in Soul Society. Why couldn't the same forced that created the first soul have created more?"

The boy was silent. The dragon let out a breath, sending the snow up in swirls, dancing in the air. They blew past the boy's eyes, and he watched their tiny icy patterns as they came closer, and brushed his cheek. A rush of nostalgic comfort washed through him as he felt their coolness touch his face.

Hyourinmaru bent down. "I do not have evidence to prove my hypothesis. But I believe it. You feel the most comfortable within weather and atmospheres such as this one, am I correct?"

The boy shrugged, and the dragon growled. "You are not sure? Then come. Let me show you…"

He nosed toward the boy, knocking him off his feet so that Toushirou fell over his back. Almost immediately, he took off into the air, and Toushirou instinctively grabbed onto the icy crown that formed around Hyourinmaru's head. He felt Hyourinmaru's body rumble, and the powerful muscles rippling beneath him.

"Look down, Toushirou," Hyourinmaru's voice came. Toushirou looked down and saw the wide expanse of his inner world, stretching on, a cold, yet strangely beautiful world of ice. He saw it as Hyourinmaru often saw it from in the air. "This is a reflection of your soul. A world of winter… always winter…"

"Yes… always winter," Toushirou said, his voice a murmur. He appeared to be in deep thought, his turquoise eyes watching the rolling landscape of ice far below him. He was not afraid of the height, for he was used to it, yet he realized that it was the first time he'd seen the ice plain from this viewpoint. He couldn't help but marvel at the sight; one he'd never seen, yet somehow found as familiar as his own face.

The dragon continued. "Look up… look at the sky…"

The boy looked up at the winter sky. Snow was still falling, swirling around the two as they sliced through the air. Toushirou remembered this sky. It was woefully similar to the sky he'd opened his eyes to when he first awoke in Soul Society. His first memory… a snowy winter's sky…

He'd never been so close to the sky of his inner world. Instinctively, he reached up, as if hoping to touch it, but of course, he only brushed against the moisture of the clouds and sky. It was cold, chilling, and familiar. He relished in the cool moisture brushing his skin, like cool fingertips that gently traced his face.

"Close your eyes, master… just close your eyes and feel with all your other senses, and tell me what you make of it."

The boy hesitated, but at the dragon's encouraging growl, obliged. He slowly allowed himself to relax and feel the wind whooshing past him, the snow swirling around him, and the cold enveloping him, embracing him as a mother embraces a child.

He allowed his senses to take dominance, and lost himself in a sea of exhilaration and familiarity. As he did, his hold upon his reiatsu loosened, and his icy reiatsu burst forth, dancing and twisting in the air, performing a strange dance in the snowing sky. For a moment, time seemed to stop, and he was nothing, nothing but a churning mass of senses and emotion. There was no sense of self, nothing but the swirling moisture, cold ice, and rushing reiatsu. For a moment, everything was in balance, and still. For a moment, he felt one with the elements.

And then, it was as if a spark had lit upon dry tinder, as if a storm's wind had suddenly blown by, awakening him. He was abruptly very aware of himself, of the blood pumped throughout his body by his pounding heart, of the air rushing into his lungs as he drew breath, and mostly, of that burning part inside him, his life force and the core of his being-his soul.

He was aware that sometime during this, his grip upon the dragon had slipped, and he was in free-fall. But it was his inner world, his soul, and so, he felt no fear, only exhilaration as he felt the air rushing by. He opened his eyes, and saw the winter sky once again, just as he had the first time he'd appeared in Soul Society. It was rising away, or rather, he was falling away from it. He felt the burning rush of life flow through him, and the coils of his reiryoku pound through him, and could already hear and feel Hyourinmaru's powerful presence within him.

Instinctively, he called upon the ice, and felt the wings of his bankai unfurl upon his back. He almost smiled as his free fall turned into flight, and he sliced through the air, just as Hyourinmaru had then, and felt his hair being whipped away from his face. His turquoise eyes were fixed upon the ice plain that rose up to meet him, and he fluidly landed upon the surface.

His wings broke away as he landed, but the adrenaline of the flight had not. Yet more so was the feeling of peace and acceptance that was mixed with the exhilaration, the lingering feelings up in the sky of being one with the water and ice, of being nothing but a bundle of raw elements and reiatsu.

He felt rather than saw Hyourinmaru land behind him. The dragon rumbled deeply in his chest, content. He had felt all of Toushirou feelings just then. They were one soul after all.

"Do you believe now, master?"

The boy smiled. "Even if there was some other explanation, this one feels right." He looked upwards. "The sky, the ice. Winter… all these things define my being. I feel at peace and most familiar with it."

Winter… winter was when he was born, where he was born, and how he was born.

Hyourinmaru bowed his head, "I agree, master."

Toushirou turned to face the ice deity. Once again, he stretched his arm up and patted the dragon upon his snout. "Thank you, Hyourinmaru, for sharing this with me…for flying with me."

"There is no need to thank me, Toushirou," the dragon hissed softly. "After all, we share the same soul, and so, I keep no secrets from you."

"All the same, I thank you for always being here with me. From my birth, until now."

The dragon closed his eyes, and the boy did the same. He could feel himself easing out of the icy landscape of his inner world, yet he could still hear and feel Hyourinmaru's presence and words.

**_"But of course, Master. I will always be here. We rose together, and so shall we fall together, and rise again as one. Born from the winter, born from the elements, you and I are the same."_**

_Yes… we are the same…_

Defined by ice. Defined by cold. Strong, cool, powerful. That was what it meant to be born from ice.

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Note, the description of the ice plain deviates from Kubo's, because I visited the Columbian ice fields in the Rockies, Canada, and wanted to put a part of that amazing scene in here. It was really beautiful.

So, I hope that was okay. That was my Hyourinmaru and Toushirou oneshot. Next up is Ukitake!

Please, if it pleases you, leave a pleasant review for this pleading author. Okay, ignore that. I just wanted to see how many forms of please I could use. Just…hope you enjoyed the story!


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